th
12
Historic Timeline
Century
Europe

1101 By the beginning of this new century,
towns are becoming an important part of life
in Europe, although people there are less
than ten percent and ninety percent are
rural. The towns are centers of commerce,
which enlightened feudal lords and kings
establish in their interest, either of the two
having granted the town charters. Where big
landowners resist the rise of towns they find
trouble often in the form of violence directed
against them.
Rise of Towns


1101 In Europe, royalty is little more than
family of warlords. Robert Curthose, Duke of
Normandy, has returned from the First
Crusade, and he invades England in an
attempt to take the throne from his brother,
Henry I.
1101 In Southern France, troubadours
appear, resuming a tradition that began in
the 500s when secular entertainers were
banished on the urging of Christian bishops.
The troubadours sing of the lives and the
courts of noblemen.
Royalty and Troubadours

1114 Two peasants at Soissons are accused
of holding meetings outside of the Church. A
deep vat of water is blessed. One of the
peasants, Clement, is tied up and tossed into
the tank, and he floats, leading to the
conclusion that the "holy water" has rejected
him and that he is therefore guilty. After this,
the other peasant confesses. Two others are
imprisoned with the two. Local people excited
and passionate about heresy break into the
jail and burn the four to death.
Religious Intolerance


1117 Slavery is abolished in Iceland.
1121 The Roman Catholic Church is more bureaucratically
organized than it was in previous centuries. Centuries
before it had no problem with common people believing in
pagan herbal magic, holy trees and springs, fairies and the
like, but now the Church feels more threatened in its role
as arbiter of truth. Literacy has been rising. Translations of
ancient Greeks are circulating. Ideas are spreading with
the increase in the movement of trade and people within
Europe. The Church is now concerned about heresy. The
Concordat of Worms condemns the popular lecturer and
writer, Peter Abelard. And later this year the uncle of
Abelard's wife, Heloise, leads a group of men who attack
and castrate Abelard.
Slavery and the Roman Church
1122 A summit meeting between Holy Roman
Emperor Henry V and and Pope Calixtus II settles the
investiture issue between the two. The Church is to
choose who will be a bishop within the Holy Roman
Empire, but the Holy Roman Emperor is to have veto
power over this selection.
 1128 The Catholic Church sanctions the Knights
Templar, of Jerusalem, to guard the road between the
eastern Mediterranean port of Acre, held by the
crusaders, and the holy city of Jerusalem. The
Knights Templar have grown from a few crusaders
reputed to have been fierce warriors. They have
taken vows (promises to God) of poverty and
chastity.

Church and State
1139 The Catholic Church forbids
Christians from using the crossbow
against their fellow Christians. It remains
okay to use against Turks and other
Muslims.
 1140 The same year that the University
of Bologna is founded, for the study of
law, the Council of Sens condemns Peter
Abelard for heresy, and Abelard travels to
Rome to defend himself.

Crossbows and Abelard

1140 A few people in Europe are finding
trials by ordeal as signs of God's judgment to
be inadequate procedures. The alternative is
testimony by human witnesses, and some
are interested in whatever empirical evidence
can be obtained. Meanwhile, a Camaldolese
monk in central Italy, Gratian, has been
trying to bring order to Church law. He is a
believer in "natural law," as were the Romans
– law he sees as built upon doing to others
what one wants done to oneself. His writings
are considered the best collection on law.
Ordeals and Natural Law

1143 At the city of Cologne a mob pulls
people accused of heresy from ecclesiastic
prisons and burns them at the stake.

1146 Normans have been involved in
piracy in the Mediterranean Sea. On the
coast of North Africa they seize Tripoli,
which had been a base for Muslim pirates.
Heresy and Pirates

1147 The taking of Edessa by Zangi is seen in
Europe as a move against Jerusalem, which is
controlled by Europeans. The German emperor,
Conrad II, and French monarch, Louis VII, lead
hundreds of thousands on a crusade – the
Second Crusade – to retake the Edessa for
Christendom. The crusade stimulates a response
from the Seljuk Turks who battle the crusaders.
Another group of crusaders sail to the Iberian
Peninsula and help King Afonso's move
southward against the Muslims at Lisbon. Afonso
captures Lisbon, which is to become the capital
of Portugal.
Second Crusade and Spain

1148 Picking up on the spirit of the Second
Crusade, a Christian force from Jerusalem
attacks the Muslim city of Damascus – a former
ally against Zangi. The Christian army besieges
Damascus, which is to fail.

1149 In the Second Crusade to the Middle East
many have died from starvation and disease as
well as injuries from battle. Edessa remains
under Muslim control. But those returning from
the crusade bring back sugar, which some
Europeans will use in place of honey
Second Crusade and Sugar

1150 Troubadours are now popular in southern France. The
University of Paris is founded.

1150 Most Finns have by now been converted to Christianity. In
Sweden, where Christianity was introduced in 829, paganism is
finally overwhelmed by Roman Catholicism.

1154 The Templars have given up their poverty. With another
Christian-crusader order in Jerusalem, the Hospitallier, they have
become owners of extensive real estate. They are also the
bankers of Jerusalem. They deal in exports and handle the 6,000
or so pilgrims that visit the Holy Land annually and are trusted to
refrain from selling pilgrims into slavery, as have some Italian
merchants.
University of Paris and Templars

1163 In Paris, construction begins on a
cathedral to be known as Notre Dame.

1167 A Danish soldier and Archbishop of
Lund, Absalon, has fortified the village that
later becomes the city of Copenhagen, his
purpose to repel attacks by Wendish (Slavic)
pirates. He is to be described as the founder
of Copenhagen.

1168 The first classes begin at Oxford
University.
Notre Dame, Absalon, and Oxford

1170 Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is
hacked to death at the altar of his church by knights
– agents of England's king, Henry II.

1180 Windmills are used as a source of power in
Flanders and the Netherlands, wind being more
constant than the flow of streams, which freeze in
winters.

1182 Philip Augustus of France has been in need of
money to hold on to his throne and to combat feudal
barons. He has accused Jews of ritual murder and has
confiscated their wealth, and now he confiscates their
land and buildings and banishes them from his realm.
Becket, Windmills, and France

1187 Saladin retakes Palestine, including
Jerusalem, for Islam. There is no pillaging or
slaughter of non-combantants – as there had
been when the Crusaders took Jerusalem in
1099. There are now about 1,000 Jewish families
in all of Palestine. Before the Christian crusaders
and their killings the Jews numbered about
300,000. Saladin is to acquire a reputation in
Europe as a chivalrous knight.

1189 Jews are massacred at the coronation of
England's Richard the First (The Lion-hearted).
Salidin, Palestine, and Richard I

1189 In response to Saladin taking
Jerusalem in 1187, the Third Crusade begins.

1191 Crusaders arrive at and besiege the
port city of Acre, on the coast of Lebanon.
Richard I arrives in June. Saladin fails to
break the siege and in July the city falls to
the crusaders. In August, Richard the First
(the "Lion-hearted") slaughters 4,000 Muslim
prisoners. Richard then takes the coastal
town of Jaffa.

1192 Saladin holds off Richard's advance
against Jerusalem. Richard and Saladin
sign a treaty that leaves Jerusalem under
Muslim control and allows Christian
pilgrims to visit. Some coastal towns and
Cyprus are left in Christian hands. Richard
leaves for England. The Third Crusade is
over, and many will see it as a failure
because Jerusalem remains in the hands
of Muslims rather than Christians.
Saladin and Richard I

1200 Commerce has been growing, and the century
ends with the seaport city of Venice as Europe's
commercial capital. Its population is around 80,000,
equal to Paris, Milan and Florence, Europe's leading
cities in population.

1200 In Western Europe the Catholic Church has
been organizing law that had vanished with Imperial
Rome's state power. Natural law, a phrase coined by
the Romans, is being applied to property rights
because, it is said, God forbade stealing. Contractual
rights are also being supported on the ground of
"natural law," including the contracts that emperors,
kings or princes have made with their subjects.
Venice and the Church
12th c Notre Dame Picardy France
12th c European Capital
Reliquary of Thomas Beckett

Thomas Becket (also known as Saint Thomas of
Canterbury, Thomas of London, and later
Thomas à Becket; c. 1118 (or 1120) – 29
December 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury
from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is
venerated as a saint and martyr by both the
Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
He engaged in conflict with Henry II of England
over the rights and privileges of the Church and
was murdered by followers of the king in
Canterbury Cathedral. Soon after his death, he
was canonized by Pope Alexander III (11591181).
Thomas Becket
Cathedral of Canterbury

Founded in 597, the cathedral was
completely rebuilt from 1070 to 1077. The
east end was greatly enlarged at the
beginning of the twelfth century, and largely
rebuilt in the Gothic style following a fire in
1174, with significant eastward extensions to
accommodate the flow of pilgrims visiting the
shrine of Thomas Becket, the archbishop who
was murdered in the cathedral in 1170. The
Norman nave and transepts survived until the
late fourteenth century, when they were
demolished to make way for the present
structures. Romanesque and Gothic in style.
Cathedral of Canterbury
Thomas Beckett Window
Murder of Becket

The king had frequent conflicts with the
strong-willed Becket and is said to have
exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me
of this turbulent priest?" The knights took
it literally and murdered Becket in his own
cathedral. Becket was the second of four
Archbishops of Canterbury who were
murdered
Murder of Becket

Several contemporary accounts of what happened next exist; of particular
note is that of Edward Grim, who was himself wounded in the attack. This
is part of the account from Edward Grim:

...The wicked knight leapt suddenly upon him, cutting off the top
of the crown which the unction of sacred chrism had dedicated to
God. Next he received a second blow on the head, but still he
stood firm and immovable. At the third blow he fell on his knees
and elbows, offering himself a living sacrifice, and saying in a low
voice, 'For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, I
am ready to embrace death.' But the third knight inflicted a
terrible wound as he lay prostrate. By this stroke, the crown of
his head was separated from the head in such a way that the
blood white with the brain, and the brain no less red from the
blood, dyed the floor of the cathedral. The same clerk who had
entered with the knights placed his foot on the neck of the holy
priest and precious martyr, and, horrible to relate, scattered the
brains and blood about the pavements, crying to the others, 'Let
us away, knights; this fellow will arise no more.
Edward Grim
Place of the Murder

Henry VIII split completely with the Roman
Catholic Church and established the Church
of England (known as the Anglican Church
and Episcopal Church) in 1534. He made
himself the supreme head of the church.
Later, he called Becket a traitor and had his
shrine and bones removed from the
Cathedral of Canterbury. Even today, the
Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual
leader of the Church but the King/Queen is
still the supreme head of the Church.
Henry VIII
12th C Stave Church Norway
12th C Wooden Church Norway
12th C Norwegian Church
12th C Chartres Cathedral France
12th C Flemish Manuscript
Late 12th C North Yorkshire
England
12th C Painting Knights Templar
12th C Italian Fresco
12th C Painted Wood Chest with
brass fittings
12th C French Fresco
12th C Pawn (soldier)
Saints Peter and Paul
Madonna and Child
Christ healing a blind man
Sinners in Hell
12th c Manuscript
Transfiguration
Carved Tympanum